Shadow energy minister Dan Tehan has called out his Labor counterpart over the Albanese government’s renewables roll out after a dire forecast for Australia’s energy grid.
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has warned the energy grid is not prepared for the country’s largest coal plant at Earing to close in 2027.
It advised the plant’s scheduled closure risked blackouts in the nation’s east, with supporting infrastructure for renewable generation being behind schedule.
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Tehan claimed AEMO’s 2025 system security report had left Energy Minister Chris Bowen with “absolute egg on his face”.
“He’s been spruiking now for over three and a half years that prices are gonna come down and reliability is gonna be enhanced by his ideologically driven renewables-only approach and yet every time we hear from experts, it’s completely the opposite,” he said.
“What I can’t understand is how this Minister, this part-time Minister, can still stand there and look the Australian people in the eye and say: ‘It’s all going swimmingly, you’re gonna have cheaper prices and the grid’s gonna be more and more stable’, because completely the opposite is happening.”
The shadow energy minister also said warnings around the government’s renewables transition were “all coming home to roost”, adding Mr Bowen had “nothing to offer as a result”.
“The sooner Anthony Albanese makes him a full-time COP negotiator so he can focus on the UN in New York and leave Australia alone, and hopefully we can get someone in here who knows and understands how engineering works, how power grid works and we can turn this around,” Mr Tehan said.
“Because if we don’t, the sad reality is we’re gonna see energy poverty continue to increase and we’re already seeing that occurring. We’re gonna see electricity prices continue to rise 40 per cent under this Albanese Labor government and we’ve got this real threat now, in a year, of blackouts. I mean it is an unmitigated mess.”
The AEMO report warned synchronous condensers – stabilising machines which provide strength to the national grid – had not been rolled out fast enough to manage coal closure.
Centre for Independent Studies director of energy research Aidan Morrison told Sky News the “writing has been on the wall” for some time before the market operator’s issued its caution.
“The closer we get to actually pulling the plug and trying to switch things off, the more we realise that it’s complex and slow and difficult to replace these assets that have provided a very secure, very reliable service for a long time,” he said.
“So the nearer we get, the more reality bites and we’re just learning that today we’ve got to extend Earing.”
